A VAR analysis of the effects of Al-Shabaab’s pledge to Al-Qaeda on bombings and fatalities

In the 2000s, Al-Qaeda, represented by the Caucasus Emirate, took over the first Chechen resistance, as well as local Islamist armed groups in Dagestan and other republics of the North Caucasus. However, a decade later, the Islamic State won the competition with Al-Qaeda, by including the involvement of women in its project. Hundreds of Russian-speaking Muslim women followed men to live by the rules of Islam. Some joined their husbands or children. Others travelled to the Islamic State in pursuit of love and romance with future husbands they had met on the internet. Based on exclusive interviews done with women detained in the Roj detention camp in the Kurdish territories in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border, this article analyzes some of the trajectories that has pushed young North Caucasian women to the Syrian war theater in the name of love.

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The Language of New Terrorism: Differences in Psychological Dimensions of Communication in Dabiq and Inspire

10.31234/osf.io/xg4f3 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Matteo Vergani ◽

Ana-Maria Bliuc

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

English Language ◽

Terrorist Attacks ◽

Al Qaeda ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Terrorist Groups ◽

The Usa ◽

Psychological Dimensions ◽

New Terrorism

We investigate differences in the psychological aspects underpinning Western mobilisation of two terrorist groups by analysing their English-language propaganda. Based on a computerized analysis of the language used in two English-language online magazines circulated by ISIS and al-Qaeda (i.e., Dabiq and Inspire), we found significant differences in their language - the ISIS’ language being higher in authoritarianism and its level of religiousness. In a follow-up experimental study, we found that being high in religiousness and authoritarianism predicts more positive attitudes towards the language used by ISIS, but not towards the language used by al-Qaeda. The results suggest that ISIS’ propaganda may be more effective in mobilising individuals who are more authoritarian and more focused on religion than that of al-Qaeda. These findings are consistent with the behaviour observed in recent homegrown terrorist attacks in the USA and Europe.

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The Al-Qaeda Revival in Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects

NUST Journal of International Peace and Stability ◽

10.37540/njips.v3i1.46 ◽

1970 ◽

Author(s):

Farhan Zahid

Keyword(s):

Law Enforcement ◽

Terrorist Group ◽

Al Qaeda ◽

Vital Importance ◽

High Profile ◽

Current State ◽

The Us ◽

Terrorist Organization ◽

State Of Affairs ◽

Tribal Areas

Pakistan remains a country of vital importance for Al-Qaeda. It is primarily because of Al-Qaeda’s advent, rise and shelter and not to mention the support the terrorist organization found at the landscape of Pakistan during the last two decades. The emergence of in Pakistan can be traced back to the Afghan War (1979-89), with a brief sabbatical in Sudan the Islamist terrorist group rose to gain prominence after shifting back to Afghanistan. It then became a global ‘Islamist’ terrorist entity while based in neighboring Afghanistan and found safe havens in the erstwhile tribal areas of Pakistan in the aftermath of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Prior to its formation in 1988 in Peshawar (Pakistan), it had worked as Maktab al-Khidmat (Services Bureau) during the Afghan War.2 It had its roots in Pakistan, which had become a transit point of extremists en route to Afghanistan during the War. All high profile Al-Qaeda leaders, later becoming high-value targets, and members of its central Shura had lived in Pakistan at one point in their lives. That is the very reason the Al-Qaeda in Pakistan is termed as Al-Qaeda Core or Central among law enforcement practitioners and intelligence communities. Without going into details of Al-Qaeda’s past in Pakistan the aim of this article is to focus on its current state of affairs and what future lies ahead of it in Pakistan.

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